forum: Food & Drink

Vegetarian Christmas Dinner

Good Afternoon All,

This is my first post on this forum but I have been reading for a while now and hope you can all help me.

I am lu cky enough to be hosting Christmas dinner at home this year. My Sister is a veggie and for once I don't want to be cooking a veg pie with Xmas trimmings.Could anyone recommend a good veggie Xmas dinner to replace the meat and a good veggie gravy to go with it?

Re: Vegetarian Christmas Dinner

Seems a bit tame, but my two veggie nieces love my courgettes stuffed with sage and onion rissotto. I serve it with my speciality veggie sauce: whole carrots slow roasted in butter and then pureed with cream and lots of black pepper added. It's not a gravy and it's not vegan but you will actually die of pleasure when you taste it whether you're a vegetarian or not!

Re: Vegetarian Christmas Dinner

I also have a recipe where the butternut squash (pumpkin) is stuffed with veggies and goat's cheese, looks delicious, I haven't tried it yet. Let me know if you want it.

If I was having my veggie friends over for Christmas this year I would be making stuffed butternut squash and serving it with side veggies. I never serve gravy to my veggie friends, but I am sure there must be suitable vegetarian sauces you could make.

Just make sure your friends are not vegan, as that is much more restrictive.

Re: Vegetarian Christmas Dinner

I would take a look at epicurious.com under the Spa menus section, there are a few veggo Spa menus there that look great, such as Picante Jícama and Roasted Carrot Salad with Creamy Basil Dressing, or the Balinese menu.

Re: Vegetarian Christmas Dinner

I do agree with everyone that a stuffed squash would be delightful, but I tried making the one on this website last week and really didn't like it at all. I think if you do a stuffed squash, try to do one with a Christmassy filling, like a vegetarian stuffing (bread, butter, onions, mushrooms, celery, pine nuts, sage, thyme, etc.).

If you can find a recipe for miso gravy, that is a great vegetarian alternative to turkey or beef gravy.

Apart from that, I made these Yam, Goat Cheese and Caramelized Onion Stacks for Christmas last year and everyone went nuts over them, even the non-veggies. Might want to give it a try! The forum won't let me post a link since I've just signed up, but if you google "Thrifty Foods yam stacks" it'll come up as the first or second hit. Thrifty Foods is the grocery store that the recipe is on.

Re: Vegetarian Christmas Dinner

I am not sure if your sis is a vegan or not...if so the you will have to make sure NO animal products are used. You can very easily find a vegan "meat" substitute called seitan. It is a soy based product and can copy chicken, veal even beef. Gravies are not difficult to make. Depending on what type you want you can start with a vegetable stock, add your own seasonings to mimic the other gravy, and then thicken with a slurry (flour/water mixture or cornstarch/water), or equal parts of oil and flour. If you want you can make a "cream" sauce with soy, almond or rice milk following the same directions.

How about a tofu turkey?

Ingredients5 (16 ounce) packages extra firm tofu 2 tablespoons sesame oil 1 red onion, finely diced 1 1/3 cups diced celery 1 cup chopped mushrooms 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/8 cup dried sage 2 teaspoons dried thyme salt and pepper to taste 1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary 1/4 cup tamari 3 cups prepared herb stuffing 1/2 cup sesame oil 1/4 cup tamari 2 tablespoons miso paste 5 tablespoons orange juice 1 teaspoon honey mustard 1/2 teaspoon orange zest 3 sprigs fresh rosemary DirectionsLine a medium sized, round colander with a cheese cloth or a clean dish towel. Place the crumbled tofu in the colander. Place another cheese cloth over the top of the tofu. Place the colander over the top of a bowl to catch the liquid. Place a heavy weight on top of tofu. Refrigerate the colander, tofu and weight for 2 to 3 hours. Make the stuffing: In a large frying pan saute onion, celery and mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of the sesame oil until tender. Add the garlic, sage, thyme, salt and pepper, rosemary and 1/4 cup of the tamari. Stir well; cook for 5 minutes. Add prepared herb stuffing and mix well. Remove from heat. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a cookie sheet. Combine 1/2 cup sesame oil, 1/4 cup tamari, miso, orange juice, mustard and orange zest in a small bowl; mix well. Remove the weight from the tofu. Hollow out the tofu so that there is one inch of tofu still lining the colander. Place the scooped out tofu in a separate bowl. Brush the tofu lining with a small amount of the miso seasoning. Scoop the stuffing into the center of the tofu shell. Place the leftover tofu on top of the stuffing and press down firmly. Turn the stuffed tofu onto the prepared cookie sheet. Putting the leftover tofu side of the "turkey" (the flat side) down. Gently press on the sides of the "turkey" to form a more oval shape. Brush the tofu turkey with 1/2 of the oil-tamari mixture. Place the sprigs of rosemary on top of the tofu. Cover the "turkey" with foil. Bake for one hour. After one hour, remove "turkey" from the oven and remove the foil. Baste the "turkey" with the remaining tamari-oil sauce (reserving 4 tablespoons of sauce). Return "turkey" to oven and bake another hour or until the tofu turkey is golden brown. Place the tofu turkey on a serving platter, brush with the remaining tamari-oil mixture and serve hot.

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